Breaking: Rwabwogo says Museveni 'unaware' of PACEID chief Matthew Bagonza’s arrest

President Yoweri Museveni did not know about the arrest of a senior official at the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) and did not order it, the committee's chairman Odrek Rwabwogo has said.

Rwabwogo told journalists on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, that he rushed to meet President Museveni in Entebbe on Tuesday after failing to establish which security agency had arrested Matthew Bagonza, the head of the PACEID secretariat and his close aide.

The President, he said, told him that he was unaware of the arrest and had not ordered it.

“At 10:30am on Tuesday, I was seeing off international visitors who had been with us over the weekend and was notified that one of our officers had been picked up,” Rwabwogo said.

“I quickly ran through all the security agencies; the Police, DIS, the SFC, and I was not able to find where he was,”

DIS is the Defence Intelligence and Security, the renamed former Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).

Rwabwogo said he then drove to Entebbe and met Museveni.

“The president told me he was not aware and was not the one that gave the order on the arrest of this officer and that he was going to try and find out the story and circumstances of his arrest,” Rwabwogo said.

This, Rwabwogo said, gave him relief.

“What was important is that he did not order this and was not aware. I would have been surprised if he had done that because the record of President Museveni over the past 40 years is there is no arbitrary arrests; there is due process,”

The account puts Rwabwogo at odds with Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who on Tuesday said Museveni had instructed him to arrest PACEID members he accused of corruption.

“We have started arresting the criminals in PACEID. Mzee, has told me to get all of them!” Kainerugaba wrote on X.

Kainerugaba had earlier declared PACEID an “illegal organisation” and announced that arrests would start immediately. 

On Wednesday morning, Kainerugaba confirmed Bagonza's detention by posting a shirtless photograph of him on X. He wrote: “We have this one. Learning Kiswahili.”

The CDF later threatened to have Bagonza caned in detention. He also warned Rwabwogo against contacting security officers without his permission.

“The next time Odrek dares to call any security officer without my approval he will be arrested,” Kainerugaba wrote.

Kainerugaba has not disclosed where Bagonza is being held, the security agency responsible for his detention or the offence he allegedly committed. Police and the military had also not issued a statement explaining the legal basis for his detention.

Meanwhile, Rwabwogo defended PACEID's approach to disputes and accusations against its officials, saying the committee follows legal channels.

“At PACEID we follow the law; when we have had incidents of insults and lies levelled against us, we try our best to stipulate the law,” he said.

“We pick the evidence and go to the relevant institutions because we believe in the constitutional rights and obligations of both the government and citizens.”

Rwabwogo also defended Museveni's record on arrests.

PACEID operates under the Office of the President. Museveni commissioned the committee in March 2022 to help expand Uganda's exports, improve standards and identify international markets for Ugandan products.

Rwabwogo, a presidential adviser and Museveni's son-in-law, chairs the committee. He is married to Museveni's daughter Patience Rwabwogo and is Kainerugaba's brother-in-law.